Carefully identifying and exploring all possible avenues we would need to leverage to strategically position and build recall for our partners, says Munnmunn Marwah, COO, Think Strawberries in an exclusive conversation with Whereabouts. Read more.
Amidst the ongoing war with Covid-19 pandemic most of the companies have adopted ‘New Normal’ followed by various technologies & tools; what’s new at Think Strawberries? Is there any change in your operational strategies?
Resilience, agility and innovation have been our stepping-stones through the last 15 months. Digitalizing our journey through these times has been key, but at the same time, we have stuck by our time-tested personalized approach and remained continuously in touch with our trade and media partners through virtual roadshows, webinars and tele-calling. Customer sentiment was being closely mapped to ensure we were sharing time-appropriate messages relevant to the changing environment.
To make sure that there were no operational challenges and our workflow continues in a seamless manner and teams embrace a remote working culture, we introduced tech tools quite early into the lockdown to enable scheduling, reporting and monitoring systems. Even before the government announced the lockdown we had a strong CRM system which helped us stay connected with our teams and clients. We are capitalising on increasing digitalisation and building a stronger and resource-efficient future.
Would you like to draw attention to your short term plans as a Representation/Destination Management Company?
Our number one priority and the immediate plan is to ascertain that our destination partners remain on top of travellers’ minds when its time to travel again. The travel decision journey is cut across awareness, consideration and decision and we are ensuring that we are present at each of these stages, presenting the right messaging to the right consumer segment at the right time.
Seeing the upward trend in travel demand it is imminent that travellers will be spoilt for choice when restrictions fully ease and we want to ensure our client destinations are the first choice when travel decisions are being made. We are carefully identifying and exploring all possible avenues we would need to leverage to strategically position and build recall for our various partners.
As you are aware that most of the countries including India have gone through the second wave of Covid-19 and gradually moving towards normalcy (by following all Covid norms to avoid the expected third wave) how do you look at the international touristic activities?
By now the initial fear we faced when the virus first emerged has transformed into a mindset of acceptance and rationalization. We now know a great deal about the virus therefore the fear factor is more controlled. Guidelines and safety protocols have been established and that has been a huge contributor towards keeping contagion in check.
Along with countries ensuring safety of the travellers, I feel it is equally important for people to be careful and follow all safety guidelines. Additionally, it is also extremely important to strengthen cooperation within and between countries to rebuild tourism and restore international touristic activities.
Would you like to elaborate on the current situation of the destinations represented by your esteemed organisation? How many of them are ready to receive international travellers? What is the status of airline operations?And, what would be your strategies to market/promote such destinations?
The tourism sector is quickly picking-up and destinations are increasingly welcoming tourists from India now that Covid positivity numbers in the country have significantly declined. One of our popular client destinations, Maldives, was among the first countries to open its borders for international tourists in July 2020 following which India registered as its number one source market last year.
After South Asian countries witnessed the second wave some time back, a ban was imposed. However, the Maldivian government has reopened the country for Indian travellers starting 15th July 2021 following an aggressive campaign named ‘I’m Vaccinated’ that encourages the vaccination of all staff members in the archipelago.
Similarly, our other clients are also gearing up for revival with UAE opening up to Indians this month and other countries planning to follow suit. It’s an exciting time and we are within very close reach of a massive surge in travel demand. We are currently in the process of putting a method to this madness when it unfolds!
